I'll Mess With Texas

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We started the morning in Albuquerque and on the drive out actually witnessed several hot air balloons in the sky. I know it’s what the city is known for, but I never thought that I would see the balloons. On the other hand, I guess it makes sense given that it is Memorial Day Sunday, the day when many of these festivals kick off. It was fun to watch in any respect.

After two hundred miles of New Mexico we entered Texas. At mile 0. And Texas is about 870 miles on I-10. Luckily (?) San Antonio is only mile 572. Only. It was a ridiculously long drive through near absolute nothingness. The highlight of those hours was getting stopped at US Customs near mile 100. Yes, US Customs.

That definitely confused us. Why would there be Customs in the middle of I-10. It’s not like we crossed the border and it’s not like the location was really near the border. I was very confused. So we pull up and the Border Control Agent asked us if we were both US citizens. I obviously said, “Yes.” Then she wanted to know where we were headed.

“Where are you headed?”
“The Alamo.”
“Where?”
“San Antonio.”
“And then?”
“Baton Rouge, New Orleans. We’re doing a cross-country road trip.”
“Are your bags in the back?” She was getting a little annoyed with us, but I was simply answering her questions.
“Yes. They are.”
“May I look at them?” I nodded. “Please pop the trunk.” She looks at them and then comes back to us. “OK, you can go.”

In my opinion, it was the most useless stop we’ve had, even worse than the “Declare Your Fruits and Plants” when we got into California. I don’t know what they were looking for. Megan joked that we should have said, “Oh man, you caught us doing something illegal. Darn.” But I didn’t think that would be a good idea.

The drive kept going and going and going. Gas stations were every 50+ miles and we had to stop three times in Texas in random cities - Fort Hancock, Fort Stockton, and Junction. And we will probably have a few more random cities as we head to Baton Rouge tomorrow.

So then we finally arrived in San Antonio and the roads are just weird. They are stacked in a strange way. For example, I-10 splits with an upper level and a lower level. And then there are other roads partially underneath those (or between them, or over them). It definitely confused the GPS because she didn’t know which road we were actually on.

Tomorrow we plan on visiting the Alamo and then going on to Baton Rouge. Sadly Kayli won’t be there, but I hope to meet up with her soon in another city then!

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